Louis van Gaal wrote in his programme notes about wanting “to make this a day Sir Bobby and his family remember for a long time”.
No doubt Sir Bobby Charlton will treasure yesterday, but it won’t be because of Manchester United’s display .
This laboured performance was not the tribute Van Gaal had in mind for his boyhood hero on the day United honoured their greatest son by naming the South Stand at Old Trafford after him.
They just about staggered over the finishing line, thanks to Anthony Martial’s 13th goal of the season as the French striker crowned a fine flowing move.
Van Gaal admitted United were lucky and claimed they lacked freshness because of the thousands of miles his players clocked up on international duty.
“It was more or less a stolen victory,” said the United boss. “We didn’t play so well, it looked like we were not fresh.
“You never know how the players will come back from the international break. We were today the lucky team.
“Everton were much fresher and you could see that on the pitch. We have only created two chances and we scored a goal so that is very effective.”
The build-up play for Martial’s goal was United’s only real moment of attacking quality and the plaudits belonged to Chris Smalling and Daley Blind for the number they did on Romelu Lukaku.
Yet again, United turned Old Trafford into the Theatre of Sweet Dreams as they failed to muster an effort on goal in the first half.
It was their 10th first-half Premier League blank at Old Trafford this season and the best they could muster was a Martial shot across the face of goal.
Instead the first half was notable for a horror show by Marcos Rojo and he failed to win a tackle against Gerard Deulofeu and gave away the ball before he was hooked.
Van Gaal blamed jetlag and Rojo’s replacement, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, made an impact, helping to create United’s goal on 54 minutes.
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